Anthozoan Cnidarians gallery

Anthozoa live fixed and do not have a jellyfish phase. Some secrete a calcareous (corals) or horny (gorgonians) skeleton. They are divided into: Octocorals, whose polyps have 8 tentacles (alcyons, gorgonians and sea feathers). Hexacorallia, whose polyps have 6 or a multiple of 6 tentacles (sea anemones and corals). Cnidarians have a single orifice, the mouth, which is surrounded by tentacles. They are radially symmetrical animals. They are characterized by the presence of stinging cells, cnidoblasts, which allow them to neutralize their prey, hence their name (from the Greek cnid- = nettle).